Jeremiah 32
32
Jeremiah’s Land Purchase
1The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah,#32:1a The tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign and the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 587 b.c. king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.#32:1b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 32:28. 2Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. 3King Zedekiah had put him there, asking why he kept giving this prophecy: “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it. 4King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians#32:4 Or Chaldeans; also in 32:5, 24, 25, 28, 29, 43. and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face. 5He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and I will deal with him there,’ says the Lord. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will never succeed.’”
6At that time the Lord sent me a message. He said, 7“Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.’”
8Then, just as the Lord had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the Lord.
9So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces#32:9 Hebrew 17 shekels, about 7 ounces or 194 grams in weight. of silver for it. 10I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him. 11Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase, 12and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
13Then I said to Baruch as they all listened, 14“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’ 15For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”
Jeremiah’s Prayer
16Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the Lord:
17“O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! 18You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 19You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve. 20You performed miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt—things still remembered to this day! And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name famous to this day.
21“You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with a strong hand and powerful arm, and with overwhelming terror. 22You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before—a land flowing with milk and honey. 23Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.
24“See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said. 25And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field—paying good money for it before these witnesses—even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.”
A Prediction of Jerusalem’s Fall
26Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 27“I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? 28Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 29The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid offerings to other gods. 30Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,” says the Lord. 31“From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.
32“The sins of Israel and Judah—the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets—have stirred up my anger. 33My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey. 34They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it. 35They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!
A Promise of Restoration
36“Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 37I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. 38They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. 41I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.
42“This is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them. 43Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ 44Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold—deeds signed and sealed and witnessed—in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah#32:44 Hebrew the Shephelah. and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
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Jeremiah 32: NLT
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Yirmeyah 32
32
1The Davar that came to Yirmeyah from Hashem in the tenth year of Tzidkiyah Melech Yehudah, which was the eighteenth year of Nevukhadretzar.
2For then the army of Melech Bavel besieged Yerushalayim; and Yirmeyah HaNavi was imprisoned in the Khatzer (courtyard) of the Guard, which was in Bais Melech Yehudah.
3For Tzidkiyah Melech Yehudah had imprisoned him, saying, Why dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith Hashem, Hineni, I will give this city into the yad Melech Bavel, and he shall capture it;
4And Tzidkiyah Melech Yehudah shall not escape out of the yad of the Kasdim (Chaldeans), but shall surely be delivered into the yad Melech Bavel, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eynayim shall behold his eynayim;
5And he shall lead Tzidkiyah to Bavel, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Hashem; though ye fight against the Kasdim (Chaldeans), ye shall not succeed.
6And Yirmeyah said, The Devar Hashem came unto me, saying,
7Hinei, Chanam'el Ben Shallum thine dod (uncle) shall come unto thee saying, Buy thee my sadeh that is in Anatot: for the mishpat haGeulah (right of Redemption) is thine to buy it.
8So Chanam'el ben dodi came to me in the Khatzer (court) of the Guard according to the Devar Hashem, and said unto me, Buy my sadeh, now, that is in Anatot, which is in Eretz Binyamin; for the mishpat hayerushah (right of possession) is thine, and the geulah (redemption) is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the Devar Hashem.
9And I bought the sadeh of Chanam'el ben dodi, that was in Anatot, and weighed him out the kesef, even seventeen shekels of kesef.
10And I signed the sefer (deed), and sealed it, and took edim (witnesses), and weighed him out the kesef on the scales.
11So I took the sefer hamikneh (deed of purchase), both that which was sealed according to the mitzvah and chukkim, and that which was the unsealed copy:
12And I gave the sefer hamikneh unto Baruch Ben Neriyah Ben Machseiyah, in the sight of Chanam'el my cousin, and in the presence of the edim that signed the sefer hamikneh, before all the Yehudim that sat in the khatzer (courtyard) of the prison.
13And I charged Baruch before their eyes, saying,
14Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os Elohei Yisroel: Take these sefarim, this sefer hamikneh, both which is sealed, and this sefer which is unsealed; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last yamim rabbim.
15For thus saith Hashem Tzva'os Elohei Yisroel: Batim (houses) and sadot (fields) and kramim (vineyards) shall be bought again in this land.
16Now when I had delivered the sefer hamikneh unto Baruch Ben Neriyah, I davened unto Hashem, saying,
17Ah Adonoi Hashem! Hinei, Thou hast made the Shomayim and the Eretz by Thy koach hagadol and Thy outstretched zero'a, and there is nothing too difficult for Thee;
18Thou showest chesed unto alafim, and recompensest avon avot into the kheyk of their banim after them; HaEl HaGadol HaGibbor Hashem Tzva'os Shmo,
19Gadol in etzah (counsel), and mighty in deed; for Thine eynayim are open upon all the drakhim of Bnei Adam; to give everyone according to his drakhim, and according to the fruit of his doings;
20Which hast set otot and mofetim in Eretz Mitzrayim, even unto this day, and in Yisroel, and among adam (mankind); and hast made Thee a Shem, as at this day;
21And hast brought forth Thy people Yisroel out of Eretz Mitzrayim with otot, and with mofetim, and with a yad chazakah, and with an outstretched zero'a, and with great terror;
22And hast given them this land, which Thou didst swear to their avot to give them, eretz zavat cholov udevash;
23And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not Thy voice, neither walked in Thy torah; they have done nothing of all that Thou commandedst them to do; therefore Thou hast caused all this ra'ah to come upon them.
24Hinei, the siege ramps, they are come unto the Ir to take it; and the Ir is given into the yad of the Kasdim (Chaldeans), that fight against it, because of the cherev, and of the ra'av, and of the dever; and what Thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, Thou seest it.
25And Thou hast said unto me, O Adonoi Hashem, Buy thee the sadeh for kesef, and take edim (witnesses); for the Ir is given into the yad of the Kasdim (Chaldeans).
26Then came the Devar Hashem unto Yirmeyah, saying,
27Hinei, I am Hashem Elohei Kol Basar; is there any thing too difficult for Me?
28Therefore thus saith Hashem: Hineni, I will give this city into the yad of the Kasdim (Chaldeans), and into the yad of Nevukhadretzar Melech Bavel, and he shall capture it;
29And the Kasdim (Chaldeans), that fight against this city, shall come and set eish to this city, and burn it with the batim (houses), upon whose gagot (roofs) they have offered ketoret unto Ba'al, and poured out nesakhim (drink offerings) unto elohim acherim, to provoke Me to anger.
30For the Bnei Yisroel and the Bnei Yehudah have only done rah (evil) before Me from their youth; for the Bnei Yisroel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Hashem.
31For this city hath been to Me as a provocation of Mine anger and of My fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before My face,
32Because of all the ra'ah of the Bnei Yisroel and of the Bnei Yehudah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they, their melachim, their sarim, their kohanim, and their nevi'im, and the Ish Yehudah, and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.
33And they have turned unto Me the oref (back), and not the panim; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not paid heed to receive musar.
34But they set their shikkutzim (abominations) in the Beis,#32:34 Hamikdash which is called by Shmi, to make it tameh (unclean).
35And they built the high places of Ba'al, which are in the Gey Ben Hinnom, to cause their banim and their banot to pass through the eish unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My lev, that they should do this toe'vah (abomination) to cause Yehudah to sin.
36And now therefore thus saith Hashem Elohei Yisroel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the yad Melech Bavel by the cherev, and by the ra'av and by the dever;
37Hineni, I will gather them out of all countries, where I have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them back unto this makom, and I will cause them to dwell securely;
38And they shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim;
39And I will give them lev echad (one heart), and derech echad (one way), that they may fear Me kol hayamim, for the tov of them, and of their banim after them;
40And I will make a Brit Olam with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.
41Indeed, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land b'emes with all My lev and with all My nefesh.
42For thus saith Hashem; Just as I have brought all this ra'ah hagedolah upon this people, so will I bring upon them kol hatovah that I have promised them.
43And sadeh shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without adam or behemah; it is given into the yad of the Kasdim (Chaldeans).
44Sadot (fields) will be bought for kesef, and the sefer (deed) will be signed and sealed and witnessed in Eretz Binyamin, and in the places around Yerushalayim, and in the towns of Yehudah, and the towns of the hill country, and in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negev; for I will cause their captivity to return, saith Hashem.
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